3 Golden Rules of Digital Minimalism

It’s about living happily with less.

Photo by Domenico Loia on Unsplash

When you hear the word Minimalism, the first thing you might think about is throwing away everything and keeping only what is essential to your survival.

It’s not. Well, in a way…

“Minimalists tend to spend much less money and own many fewer things than their peers. They also tend to be much more intentional and often quite radical in shaping their lives around things that matter to them.” — Cal Newport

Minimalism is about clarity and simplicity in life, it’s about living happily with less.

A clearer view of life isn’t possible unless you minimize the things that are distracting you from living your best life. In our connected world, the first source of distraction is Technology. We use it as a tool to work, to study and to entertain ourselves. But at times, we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere on the Internet by scrolling mindlessly on Social media for hours. It devours our time and it drains more energy from us than it should.

Cal Newport defines Digital minimalism as:

“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”

Digital minimalism isn’t about imposing an organizing system for your life. It certainly makes you aware of the clutter you might have accumulated over the years on your digital devices. But most importantly, it aims to guide you towards a more mindful and intentional consumption of technology. So what does Digital Minimalism encourages you to do?

1. Limit your Screen time

Billions of dollars are being spent to make us addicted to technology, some of us may even believe that Social media is a vital part of their work or personal life. We are trapped by likes, comments and other forms of engagements. We respond to buzzes and notifications as if they are critical to our survival.

Digital minimalism helps you prioritize long-term meaning over short-term satisfaction. Technology is with no doubt a great tool to stay in touch and connect with loved ones but we shouldn’t be allowing ourselves to be always available.

Does this mean giving up your phone or deleting your Social media accounts?

Not necessarily. You are in control of what you bring to your life. You can either start with going Cold Turkey on Social media or by separating yourself from it step by step. For starters you can apply these tips:

• Use a Time tracker to know your time-wasters
• Try limiting your daily use to 1 hour
• Turn off all notifications in your phone
• Clean your feed from distracting posts by unfollowing and unfriending people that don’t add value to your life
• No screens in bed. Turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode for at least 1 hour whether before sleeping or after waking up.
• Practice going outside without your phone, take a walk, journal, get back to your hobbies or simply try to find joy in spending time alone.

By understanding your values and how they influence your technology use, you take more confident decisions about what, how and when to use.

2. Declutter

Digital spaces are an extension of our physical ones. It is nearly impossible to focus on a workspace filled with distraction. This is why it is crucial to identify optional additions to the workspace: things which removal won’t harm or disrupt the daily operation of your professional or personal life.

The digital declutter is a process that you don’t need to rush. To avoid collecting digital junk you can :

1. Clear your desktop: Remove all the files and programs from your desktop, keep it clean and pick a simple Wallpaper that won’t distract you.
2. Delete: Clear all the files you don’t need, uninstall all unused apps. Also, try to clear to neutral by resetting your browser, emptying the trash… It’s a task off your future you’s To-do list.
3. Categorize: Separate your files into big folders such as “Personal”, “Work” etc… You can also use Labels for your files. It keeps them organized and you can always find them quickly.
4. Back up your files: Two is one, one is none. Upload your files to the Cloud, it frees up space in your devices and it’s also a reassurance that your old files are in a safe place. To keep everything in the same ecosystem, I highly recommend using Google Drive for files and Google Photos for pictures and videos.

3. Simplify your Inbox

“To be a digital minimalist, in other words, means you accept the idea that new communication technologies have the potential to massively improve your life, but also recognize that realizing this potential is hard work.”

Mails can be exhausting. The goal of Digital Minimalism is to give you the clearest and least stressful experience in your inbox.

• Treat emails like appointments and schedule checking them once or twice daily; late morning and late evening.
• Act according to the Email: Delete, delegate, respond, defer or do.
• Do not exceed 30min in answering all your important messages.
• Minimize your inbox as much as possible by unsubscribing to unnecessary newsletters.
• Create an email hierarchy: Categorize your previous emails into folders.
• Use filters for organizing incoming emails into folders. Don’t let everything pile up in the inbox folder

The TakeAway

You can re-introduce technology to your life and build a healthy relationship with it by honestly asking yourself :

• Does this technology support my values?
• Is it the best way to support them?
• How am I going to use it optimally?

Less can be more. Digital minimalism involves not getting rid of your technology entirely but understanding the value it brings and using it mindfully to make sure it’s not controlling you.